Reaching Aiko’s position, I prepare a cannonball hug, but I’m greeted with one damn good impression of a pufferfish.

Yeep... She’s sulking.

I mean, it’s my fault that I disappeared out of nowhere.

I was too absorbed in my training that I kinda, uhmm, forgot about Aiko for a bit...?

“Err, hey there Aiko-chan, it’s been a long time...?”

“Oh hello, Tomoko-chan, it hasn't been long at all you know.”

Going for a hug anyways, I evade her eyesight to hide my guilty conscience.

“Well! We’re at the same school now! I hope we can still be table mates like in kindergarten.”

Bam! Hit her with the subject change and everything shall be fixed as nature does its wonders.

“Huh? Oh right...! We might not even be in the same class.”

Ahh, she’s getting sad. I think I just made it worse.

“It’s fine Aiko-chan, we can still sit together at lunchtime and after school even if we don't share a class. I have lots of cool things I want to tell you about! We can also go out like before.”

“Really?! You’ve gotta tell me about what you were doing when you disappeared, you know? You feel different... Like a knight!”

A knight? If I am a knight, I am probably the most dishonorable knight out there hehe.

In fact, I fully advocate using all the dirty tricks in my arsenal to win a fight, wahaha!

“Okay, Aiko-chan, let’s check the class rosters together after the ceremony, we can also hang out after school today!”

She excitedly nods and tries to reply, but I hush her as the principal has arrived on stage, announcing the start of an incredibly mundane event that will haunt me for the upcoming 9 years, the school entrance ceremony.

The principal is a relatively older man with black-gray hair and a black suit that just screams butler.

Even the atmosphere around him feels the same, he should be a very rigorous person.

He kicks off the speech with a gentlemanly greeting and then proceeds to emphasize the importance of school rules, then ends it with the usual “Enjoy the school year and I hope you have a rewarding year of learning” stuff.

Then, homeroom teachers take turns introducing themselves in a monotonous manner.

Wait, they are reading those introductions from speech cards...? It’s the same handwriting on all cards as well?!

Principal-san, isn’t this just too much?! It’s as if I entered some sort of zombie-infested area... or a 9-5 job company, he really wrote all the speech cards himself, just how strict can someone be?

After the homeroom teachers, some senior students from the sixth grade give a small motivational speech, but it can be seen that they are also very restrained.

Ugh... Good thing I got {Space Awareness} earlier, seeing without having to face in the direction of what I'm looking at is going to save my poor soul in this strict environment...

Buying more books about the topics I’d decided on before should be a priority, I’ll read them in secret during classes, can’t waste such a long time every day.

Shishou also wouldn’t mind randomly asking for my presence five days a week, would he?

I would only attend classes to meet up with Aiko and get to know the future cast anyways.

Other than that, there’s no other reason to come, clubs start at junior high six years later.

Holding Aiko’s hand, we head towards the bulletin board.

I can see the rosters from here though... We’re not in the same class.

Taking a deep breath, I prepare myself to appease Aiko’s poor heart after she learns that fact.

There are a lot of people blocking our view of the board, normally I’d just wait it out, but then I won’t have time to speak with Aiko afterwards.

Closing my eyes, I try a new trick that came about as a result of my sparring with Shishou combined with my overwhelming soul power.

All of a sudden, everyone but Aiko gets goosebumps and starts feeling cold, turning in my direction, they feel as if a bloodthirsty animal has gripped their throats.

Yep, I now have the legendary {Killing Intent} ability, FEAR ME muahahaha!

Although I call it that, it’s actually just {Sharp Aura}.

Theoretically, different skillsets can develop auras the more experience I have in them, like a healer’s aura if I study medicine, a {Monarch’s Domination} if I become a queen, even my sharp aura would evolve into {Killing Intent} as soon as I get my first kill.

Unlike the anime stuff, where it’s like ‘Nani?! He hurt him only using his aura!’, {Sharp Aura} just uses my soul power to amplify the atmosphere around me, it’s that Knight feeling Aiko spoke about before, it’s very weak though.

The reason why it’s very effective now is that fear is the strongest emotion children can perceive, so the effect is exponentially amplified.

You see, the teachers standing around are pretty much unaffected, they would feel it after evolution though.

Pulling Aiko, we go right in front of the board.

I start acting as if I am seriously looking through the list, but my attention is entirely focused on her.

A few seconds later, I feel her grip tighten and notice her looking at her class roster.

Acting confused, I follow her eyesight and then make a sudden face of realization.

“Ah...! It seems we are not in the same class...”

Turning to face her, I find that her eyes are starting to become watery, and I start panicking.

“Hey hey Aiko-chan, remember what I said before? We can still be together at lunchtime and after school, okay? I also want Aiko-chan to try and find some cool new friends, would you?”

Giving her puppy eyes, she is momentarily dumbfounded, then she bursts into laughter.

“Hahaha, puppy eyes don’t suit you anymore, Tomoko-chan.”

I was tricked! Again!

Sigh, I’m glad she isn’t really sad though, she was in follower mode the last time I saw her, but it seems reducing our time together fixed it.

“Not gonna lie, you had me panicked for a moment there, Aiko-chan. Wait for me after school, we’re going home together.”

After making an appointment, we both head towards our respective classrooms for the day.

Luckily, they are not too far away.

Saying our goodbyes, I step into my classroom “1-B”, classes don’t have classifications yet as it’s our first day.

Looking around, I find my seat by the window at the back, a protagonist’s seat, I tell ya!

Sitting down, I unzip my backpack and pull out a book about animal habitats, an animal’s dwelling can reveal much information about its living habits.

Not much later, the door is pushed open by a female teacher.

“Hello, class. My name is Hiroko Hayashi, and from today onwards, I’ll be your homeroom teacher! Let’s start by introducing ourselves, each one of you will stand up and introduce their names and hobbies according to the seating order.”

Wait, what? Why do such a troublesome thing? Is this a Naruto genin team introduction or something?

Instantly losing interest, I resume reading my book after asking Manager-san to record their names in case there is a need to deal with them someday.

My turn is right before the last, normally such introductions wouldn’t take much time, but these kids really like describing their hobbies.

When it’s my turn, I secretly let go of the book hidden inside the desk drawer and stand up.

“My name is Tomoko Ito Grant; I like reading books and practicing Kendo.”

I sit down again after giving the bare minimum and give them a nod, deciding to just listen to the last introduction as what follows is textbook distribution then we get to leave.

I don't care much about people other than the future cast, I don’t want to leave many ties in this world.

Having ties with my family and Shishou is already bringing me enough headaches about what should be done to pacify them during my time in the otherworld, I don’t even know if we’ll be deemed dead or missing.

Luckily, Hiroko-sensei seems to sense my lack of interest and moved on to the last student.

“My name is Ooshima Kanata, I like soccer and playing games on my Gameboy, please take care of me.”

Hearing the name, my body momentarily froze, then I look behind me and see a boy with medium-length black hair, black eyes, and a chubby face.

Asking Manager-san for a quick recollection, I match him with his otherworld identity, Karnatia Seri Anabald AKA. Katia.

She was the only reincarnation to get gender-swapped, yet she is one of the most adaptable ones.

Kinda reminds me of myself, huh?

From all reincarnations outside the elf village, she was the one who impressed me the most.

After reincarnation, she had to deal with her new gender, yet she still did her best to navigate through noble politics, learn magic, and take care of the upcoming hero, Schlain as his loyal friend while getting a useless reincarnation skill.

She developed an analytical mind which is shown by her actions throughout the anime, like when she didn’t believe their teacher, Filimos gathered the reincarnations with their consent, or all the times she helped solve Schlain’s doubts and explained their situation.

To be honest, I feel Katia had incredible potential, yet it was all wasted on babysitting Schlain.

While I won’t go out of my way to befriend Ooshima, I would still try to influence his thinking to be a bit more selfish should we become friends.

He got involved in too many troubles, even getting himself killed once and later resurrected, someone with such a good brain could’ve easily become the strongest magician if he wasn’t so deeply and selflessly involved with the hero’s party.

I mean, the party literally consists of a naïve hero who trusts everyone without a second thought, a previous bully who degraded into a mascot after wasting her potential as a dragon, and a brainwashed elf who devoted herself to ruining people’s life because of her self-righteousness.

Maybe someone else liked them due to their camaraderie and loyalty, but sorry, that shit’s not my cuppa tea.

I personally don’t let preconceived impressions affect my way of dealing with others as I believe a person's personality is affected by their childhood, that’s why I can befriend Aiko without any care for her future bullying record, she hasn’t done any such thing now.

However, some of the future cast will be directly ignored by me if our first interaction is after they become similar to their counterparts in the anime, like Hugo and Feirune.

Dismissing Manger-san and recovering from my absent-minded state, I collect my school textbooks and leave class, hurrying in the direction of the school gate.

I’m probably late for my appointment, Sensei just had to waste my time with that Naruto introduction.

I hope Aiko was able to make some new friends today.